


Felbairn

by Damceon



Series: Character Backstories [13]
Category: Gamer Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Damceon/pseuds/Damceon
Summary: An Iron Kingdoms campaign... it was epic!  Brutally epic!
Series: Character Backstories [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672036





	Felbairn

Caldir Felbairn -

Youngest of 4, 2 older brothers, one older sister (sister is the eldest).

Father – deceased (Haspir Felbairn) (paternal grandparents deceased)

Haspir spent many years running exotic trade across the border from the Marches into Cygnar. Much of the most valuable trade was from a trollkin kriel that bartered for Cygnaran goods not otherwise available without risky raiding deep across Cygnar's borders. The kriel's leadership owed Haspir a heavy debt from years before, according to rumor, and would only do business with him. Since Haspir's death four years ago, much of the exotic goods available in the Marches seem to have disappeared. Perhaps, with the burden of debt lifted by Haspir's death, the kriel has moved on. Perhaps they are waiting for Haspir's replacement to open the trade route once more.

One night, four years ago, Haspir returned with a laden wagon of goods from King's Vine and ready for a trip into the Marches. He was also bleeding from a days-old wound in his side. Fever took him before anyone could get anything useful from Haspir about his attacker. The surgeon called to the estate said the wound had festered unnaturally and that the body should be burned to prevent plague. Since Haspir's death, all the Felbairns have become wary of strangers and traveling alone (even on well-known roads).

Mother – alive (Iselde Felbairn) (maternal grandmother alive, Ulbeth Palgir)

Iselde lives on the Felbairn estate, a few leagues upriver from Blackthorn (the village at the fork of Black River and Comb's Beacon River). A native beauty of the borderlands, Iselde was courted by several lesser nobles of the rural municipality, but her heart long belonged to Haspir Felbairn. Captivated by the wildness of the Felbairn family, Iselde followed Haspir on a lengthy courtship. While never officially married, Iselde and Haspir raised their family in a small cabin outside Blackthorn. Iselde used much of the money from Haspir's trapping and trading to pay for improvement after improvement, transforming the small cabin into a sprawling ranch.

Past her prime, Matron Felbairn is still not a woman to be trifled with. Since her husband's death, she has become withdrawn and distrustful of strangers. Her family is her greatest possession, and she would do anything to protect it, but she knows the limitations of her body... much of the daily dealings of the family's trapping business is now managed by Ulselde, her eldest child. Iselde knows how her husband died, but not why.

Ulselde Felbairn – Eldest daughter of Iselde, current “Owner” of the Felbairn estate, sees to daily operation of the Estate as well as directing trade of the trappers and traders across the border of the Black River. She is eager for work, but places family first. Ulselde wears her father's old hunting coat and hat when she is tending to family business, feeling it gives her a measure of his presence in dealing with some of the older merchants and trappers. She has yet to make contact with the mysterious kriel that once bartered exclusively with her father, but she continues to seek answer from them whenever she finds time to send word into the Marches. It could be just the thing the Felbairns need to bring their family back from the edge of economic disaster.

Davoth Felbairn – Second-born and eldest son of Iselde. Davoth leads several teams of trappers and furriers that range up and down Black River and even forays along Comb's Beacon. Game has become increasingly scarce, though from over-hunting or from raiding savages or vicious farrow is unknown. More and more, the trappers are collecting bounties on bandits and recapturing goods stolen from caravans in exchange for modest reward. He keeps his father's favorite hunting knife at his side at all times, sharpened and oiled with a new handle. He hopes to find his father's killer one day, so he can deliver the blade into the murderer's ribs as his father would have wished.

Skerras Felbairn – second son of Iselde. Skerras is a bit of a rapscallion, but he has taken to living in Blackthorn and keeps a meager shopfront open in the town for the Felbairns' interests. His wife and six children rule his life, when he's not busy chasing wenches or whiskey. Though his wife complains loudly about his loutish ways, none would ever suspect that the couple is secretly smuggling...something. Whatever it is, it's small. Very small. Maybe it's gunpowder or stolen gems, but they know better than to pry into their business partners' affairs. What they also don't know is that their father's death, the “missing” kriel, and their smuggling are all somehow connected.

Having a brother working for the marshals, and a family history of working with the marshals has given Skerras a tremendous lead on how they investigate crime. To date, he's been several steps ahead of anyone in town and further ahead of people outside of town. Far from being a criminal mastermind, Skerras is simply the most practiced and skilled smuggler on Black River. Though he and his wife Kharan don't smuggle more than their secretive partners are paying for, they're more than happy to find the less-careful smugglers moving through their territory... and bring the marshals down on those brigands to keep “serious trouble” out of their lives.

Ulbeth Palgir - Dame Palgir, Caldir's maternal grandmother, is a dottering old woman, soft with age in body and mind. Near-blind and nearer-deaf, she keeps mostly by the hearth or on the porch-stoop of the large family-house on the Felbairn Estate. She stitches garments for her great-grandchildren and gossips about people already dead. Most people are simply "child" to her, except her daughter; whom she still calls "darling Iselde." Though it has been explained to her several times, she seems not to recall that Haspir is dead and occasionally remarks that he's late home to supper again.


End file.
